Highlight: Mesut Ozil. Ignore the cries over whether Arsenal need another creative midfielder – every club in world football needs a 24-year-old who has made a vidiprinter-busting 94 assists in three years for Real Madrid and Germany. Arsene Wenger, the tease that he is, has made the signing worth waiting (an entire summer) for.

Lowlight: Waiting until the final day to do any significant business. Maybe that was the plan all along, but it would have been nice for the club to tell the suffering Arsenal fans, who can now awake from their nightmares of abrasive Scotsmen and the colour yellow. If deals had been agreed sooner, the opening day defeat to Aston Villa could have been avoided and they would be top of the league.

Glaring omission: Back-up to Gunnersaurus Rex, who has been blighted with tail injuries and has become complacent given his role as top dinosaur at the club.

Overall mark: 6/10. The summer which promised Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain or Wayne Rooney eventually delivered a back-up goalkeeper, a fresh-faced striker and attacking midfielder. But that midfielder is Ozil, so the derision subsides for now. Still: given this was meant to be the summer Arsenal took a financial blowtorch to their rivals, is an expenditure of £42m good enough?

Highlight: More gambles. Paul Lambert’s scouting dossier must read like the itinerary for a cruise through the Bermuda Triangle, with the club signing another cluster of unknowns from Europe’s less glamorous leagues. Jores Okore, an Ivorian-born Danish international, looks the standout so far after an impressive defensive performance against Liverpool. If it worked for Christian Benteke...

Lowlight: More gambles. Benteke worked - and stunningly so – but lightning rarely strikes twice. And although low-profile signings like Ashley Westwood and Matthew Lowton would eventually adapt, Villa were in serious relegation bother with a month to go. Libor Kozak for £7m also intrigues given he is a similar player to Benteke, though the Czech striker did score 10 Europa League goals last season.

Glaring omission: A player who the world is familiar with but is not actually very good, if only to cease the confusion and befuddlement of national treasure John Motson as he desperately scans the team sheet for Paul McGrath. Somebody like Stephen Ireland, perhaps.

Overall mark:6/10. It is impossible to know how well Villa have performed until the season is in full swing, such is the nature of their acquisitions. Grainy YouTube videos can only reveal so much, after all. Most importantly for the club, perhaps, was managing to keep Benteke and rid a sizeable portion of Richard Dunne, Darren Bent and Stephen Ireland from the wage bill. Shay Given, unfortunately, still remains.

Highlight: Intent. There are two strategies for newly-promoted sides to adopt in the transfer market; Cardiff have taken the battering ram approach, spending over £30m on five players with experience in either the Champions League or Europa League. Watching Gary Medel in a South Wales derby will be gratuitously post-watershed.

Lowlight: Balance. Cardiff have spent £17.5m on two defensive players, which might seem a tad excessive given they possessed the second-best defence in the Championship last season. While Peter Odemwingie is a potential bargain at £2.5m with 30 Premier League goals in three seasons, it will be interesting to see who else scores goals and how Malky Mackay maintains harmony amongst his attacking options.

Glaring omission: Gareth Bale. Not only would he oust Peter Whittingham from the side (just), but his sausage-like dress sense would deflect the attention from chairman Vincent Tan, who wears a replica shirt with suit trousers up to his neck.

Overall mark: 8/10. The quality of Cardiff’s main signings is hard to question, while the ruthlessness of relegating the good Championship players to the bench is commendable, if not entirely ethical. They appear to have strengthened every key position of their spine with players that have played at the top level.

Highlight: Jose Mourinho’s attacking options. The success of Mourinho’s side will depend on how the three attacking players behind the striker operate. With a half-decent quartet already – Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar and the returning Kevin De Bruyne – the club added Andre Schurrle and Willian. There may also be more fun to be had providing Samuel Eto’o with chances instead of Fernando Torres.

Lowlight: Romelu Lukaku leaving on loan. After 17 goals for West Brom – West Brom! – last season, the possibility of the Belgian being nurtured by Mourinho was something to salivate over. Lazy but inevitable comparisons to Didier Drogba were readied. Alas, it was deemed Lukaku would offer less than Torres and Demba Ba, who scored a combined 10 league goals for Chelsea last season.

Glaring omission: Rafael Benitez. Everybody knows Chelsea produce their best football when in turmoil, and it is all too nicey-nicey at the moment. That aside, he is a club legend having won the Europa League last season, and would probably be preferable to Gary Cahill in defence.

Overall mark: 7/10. The squad has undergone less of a Mourinho makeover than expected. Schurrle deserves his move after an excellent season at Leverkusen, while Eto’o and Willian both feel like opportunism from the club – namely in getting a good striker for cheap and annoying Spurs. Infallible logic. Wayne Rooney ending the window at Manchester United proves that Chelsea don’t get everything they want.

Highlight: Bodies. Remember the Cardiff method of buying a small amount of players for big money? Ian Holloway has opted for the alternate option of just buying any player who happens to drive past the stadium. This was the right approach for a club who were promoted despite their small squad, lost Wilfried Zaha, and won't have 30-goal Glenn Murray back for a good while yet. It’s also a gloriously Football Manager-style strategy, and there’s actually some good signings in there.

Lowlight: £6m for Dwight Gayle. Gayle, at 22, is a talented young player with heaps of potential. But to spend a large portion of their transfer budget on a player who was playing for Bishop’s Stortford last year is quite the gamble. It had the feel of making a statement. It's just less than clear what that statement is.

Glaring omission: The Eagles rising from the ashes is a remarkable story. With fans so vociferous and dedicated, and a squad of honest, industrious pros, El Hadji-Diouf could have made them that little less likeable and would soothe the pain if they are relegated.

Overall mark: 6/10. The pre-season favourites for relegation have given themselves a fighting chance. Disregarding the Gayle fee, he’s an exciting prospect and it is refreshing to see such an adventurous signing from a club who have so much at stake. Midfielder Jose Campana, who has captained Spain’s U20 side, is another prospect to monitor closely, while the permanent signing of Kevin Phillips, aged 56, warms the heart.

Highlight: Monday night, approximately 9pm. Everton went from despair to delirium within an hour as the deadline loomed. There were reports of not meeting James McCarthy’s asking price, Gareth Barry’s wages being an issue and Romelu Lukaku stopping off at the Hawthorns for a chat before his prospective move to Goodison Park. Luckily, they had nothing to worry about – honest - and their squad is far stronger even with the departure of Marouane Fellaini.

Lowlight: Are you Wigan in disguise? The trident of players that Roberto Martinez brought with him in his suitcase – metaphorical, of course – originally made sense. Arouna Kone would bring goals, Antolin Alcaraz would tighten the defence and Joel would be good back-up to goalkeeper Tim Howard. But the arrival of Lukaku makes the £6m spent on Kone unnecessary, especially for a club of Everton’s financial standing. Their two successive clean sheets may also marginalise Alcaraz when he returns, though at least he was on a free.

Glaring omission: What’s this? An Everton side full of players who like to pass the ball and move intelligently? No 6-foot-4 mass of inhumanity, elbow and needle? No, no, no. This won’t do. Sign Lee Cattermole and Michael Brown, lie back and think of Joe Royle.

Overall mark: 9/10. It was a close call, but Everton are a stronger team after the summer, their wheeling-and-dealing once again magnificent bar the £6m on Kone. They have lost Fellaini, granted – but the club also kept Leighton Baines and have adorned the squad with a new central midfield, a 17-goal striker and a Barcelona wonderkid. There is also a bit of spare change to spend in January, providing it does not go towards Bill Kenwright’s musical about David Moyes.

Highlight: Fernando Amorebieta. The Venezuelan is famous for representing the 100th nationality to play in the Premier League, but his no-nonsense defending will soon usurp that. He is uncompromising, ruthless and the most red carded player in Athletic Bilbao history. Fulham conceded 60 goals last season, one of the worst records of those who stayed in the league; when fit, he will slot into the defence and provide crunching tackles galore.

Lowlight: Dutch courage from Martin Jol. In Bryan Ruiz and Dimitar Berbatov, Fulham possess two players of luxurious quality, like rich Belgian chocolates bought from the discount supermarket down the road. But too many can make you ill, and Jol may end up sprawled out on his sofa with the stuff all over his face after the signings of Darren Bent and Adel Taraabt. Both are good players, and both come on loan, but more than Derek Boateng and Scott Parker are needed to carry the workload.

Overall mark: 5/10. The club have done well to keep their main assets and have added Premier League experience in Bent, Parker and Taraabt, with Maarten Stekelenburg and Amorebieta – both injured – bringing nous from abroad. But will it be enough for a side who ended last season with just four points from their last eight games? Though Parker will add something to the midfield, he’s now 32 and might not have the energy required to compensate for the front four.

Highlight: Sealing the Spurs duo. Steve Bruce’s decision to switch from last season’s 3-5-2 to a 4-5-1 this season, a pair of holding midfielders became a necessity. Tom Huddlestone, 26-years-old and in need of a move to revitalise his career, was an excellent purchase for £5m, while Tottenham team-mate Jake Livermore also has something to prove during his loan spell at the KC Stadium.

Lowlight: Playing the Long game. Hull spent the least amount of money of the three promoted sides – no surprise, given the wasteful extravagance shown last time they were in the top flight. The £5m set for West Brom striker Shane Long would have swelled their expenditure a little more and also give them a genuine, proven goal threat – something needed for a side who scored just 61 Championship goals last season. Manager Bruce will hope he does not rue waiting too long for Long.

Glaring omission: With Bruce and his son Alex both at Hull, maybe Steve’s wife Janet can add to the family theme. Can she play up front?

Overall mark: 5/10.The Spurs duo will add something to the midfield, Maynor Figueroa brings experience in defence and the deadline day re-signing of Gedo could prove pivotal after five goals in 12 games last season. The rest of Hull’s activity has been met with uncertainty, with players such as Curtis Davies and George Boyd needing to prove their ability at the highest level. Ultimately, have Hull brought in enough goals to survive in the Premier League?

Highlight: Luis Suarez remains at Anfield. At some point this summer, three things in life were inevitable: death, taxes and the Uruguayan moving to Real Madrid. Yet Liverpool were unwavering in their stance of Suarez not being for sale, no matter how many come-and-get-me-please-save-me-send-help pleas the striker issued to Spanish-speaking radio stations. Liverpool looks a stronger, wiser club for it.

Lowlight: The ones that got away. Brendan Rodgers made it clear that he wanted a goalscoring wide player to move into the first 11, but advances for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Diego Costa and Willian all proved frustratingly futile. He would eventually settle for Victor Moses on loan, a player of some quality but not quite the one he envisioned propelling them into the Champions League

Glaring omission: Tony Dorigo so he can complete a back four of Aly Cissokho, Mamadou Sakho and the Toure brother whose first name is Kolo. Scouse songsters would have had a field day.

Overall mark: 8/10. A strange window for Liverpool and their fans, a number of whom took to Twitter and communicated only in exclamation marks and pictures of Bill Shankly. They did much of their work before July: the decision to replace Pepe Reina with Simon Mignolet has offered immediate reward, while Kolo Toure was also a smart signing on a free. The defence was suitably strengthened with Sahko and Tiago Ilori, albeit late on Monday. Recouping over £25m for Andy Carroll, Jonjo Shelvey and Stewart Downing is also stellar selling.

Highlight: Strength in depth. Though Isco would choose Real Madrid over Manchester City, the club enjoyed a successful summer otherwise. Pragmatism ruled the day with players bought with a specific function in mind: Fernandinho is to partner Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas offers width, Alvaro Negredo is an alternative to Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic is another creative outlet. The summer of Javi Garcia and Scott Sinclair is nothing but a hazy memory.

Lowlight: Martin Demichelis. This is no reflection on the brutish centre-back from Justiniano Posse, Argentina, but rather what he represents. Vincent Kompany is one of the best defenders in the world and Matija Nastasic is, at the age of 20, a potential Serbian superstar. Yet Lescott and Demichelis, while capable, are a level below and represent a potential weak-link for opposition to exploit. The legacy, perhaps, of spending so much to guarantee that did not happen in other positions…

Glaring omission: Shaun Goater. He was strong and mobile in 1999, and would serve as a much-needed reminder to when City didn’t have loads of money, a bounty of fine players and lost loads of games.

Overall mark: 7/10. The major summer signings are a complete contrast to last year’s scattergun approach. Jovetic could prove to be special and the duo of Navas and Negredo proved a handful in Seville. The search for a top-class defender worthy of challenging Kompany and Nastasic will continue, however, though Demichelis is an improvement on a makeshift Javi Garcia. Sending Carlos Tevez to Juventus is a bit like sending your mother-in-law to space: you know they will do well there, but you’re just glad of the peace.

Highlight: Nothing. Well, keeping Wayne Rooney from the clutches of Chelsea, perhaps. Or maybe buying Marouane Fellaini, even though it was £4.5m above what his release clause was set to earlier in the summer. Erm, Guillermo Varela, the left back signed from Penarol, might be really good as well.

Lowlight: Everything. It was not simply chief executive Ed Woodward’s failure to deliver the targets that will annoy United fans, but the slapstick final day as both Fabio Coentrao and Ander Herrera failed to materialise for innocuous reasons. The talk of Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas, Robert Lewandowski, Thiago Alcantara, Sami Khedira and Luka Modric is now nothing but ammunition for rivals to mock them.

Glaring omission: The Banker from Deal or No Deal. Drives a hard bargain but gets the vital paperwork done in time; could maybe also play left back. Much like the actual transfer targets, has no chance of signing for United.

Overall mark: 2/10. One mark for keeping Rooney and one mark for signing Fellaini. They were just two things Manchester United wanted – and needed – to do this summer: a left back, a right back, another creative midfielder and a goal threat further up the pitch. In the aftermath of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, questions were asked of how much Moyes could do to emulate him, but Ferguson never suffered a summer so barren. If this were a piece of homework, a less-forgiving teacher would have set it alight already. Must do better.

Highlight: Keeping Yohan Cabaye, even if the player is reportedly unhappy on Tyneside. These are straws Newcastle must tether to in order to avoid spontaneous outbursts of rage whenever they hear the names Joe, Kinnear and Joe Kinnear. Kinnear’s arrival as director of football was treated with suspicion; after a summer which brought Loic Remy on loan and teenager Olivier Kemen for £350,000, suspicion now turns to disdain.

Lowlight: The whole summer has acted as a punch to the solar-plexus of Newcastle’s support. Alan Pardew asked for two strikers, a centre-back and a winger; he asked for players within the club’s range, including Blackpool’s Tom Ince, Wigan’s James McCarthy and Bafetimbi Gomis, who would rather spend this season at Lincoln instead of Lyon.

Glaring omission: Someone. Anyone. They don’t even have to be French. Or share Mike Ashley’s love for discount trainers. All they have to do is figure out Kinnear’s e-mail password which he's forgotten. Apparently he's got loads of mail from Monday.

Overall mark: 1/10. Loic Remy scored six goals in 14 appearances for QPR and that offers some hope to a side who scored just 45 goals last season. But a lot more was expected from Newcastle – not only from fans, but from Pardew as well, and that could cause yet more disharmony at the club.

Highlight: Nathan Redmond. Redmond was one of the few bright spots in England’s dire U21 European Championship campaign this summer, though those who watched him for Birmingham would be unsurprised at that. The 19-year-old’s career is very much in the ascendancy and Chris Hughton conducted some magnificent business to get him at Carrow Road so cheaply, exhibiting the sort of player Norwich have excelled in buying in recent years.

Lowlight: The pursuit of big names, and there’s no name bigger in the Premier League than Ricky van Wolfswinkel. Norwich broke their transfer record for the Dutchman in a summer that saw them deviate from their usual belief that hard-working, home-grown players with the potential to improve in the Premier League are better than expensive signings from abroad. This is not to say van Wolfswinkel, or Leroy Fer, will be poor signings; it is merely a lamentation that Norwich are moving along with modern football.

Glaring omission: Dean Marney. He’s a Championship midfielder with work ethic and a turn like a cruise-liner. He’s also played for Norwich before, so the return of the prodigal son would be received well in Norfolk. Maybe.

Overall mark: 6/10. The change in their transfer strategy could either move Norwich into the top 10 or send them closer to relegation. After two seasons of stability, the decision to bring in van Wolfswinkel, Fer and Gary Hooper from other countries – albeit Hooper was at Celtic - for big money is a gamble. They were joint-third lowest scorers in the Premier League last season, and the aforementioned two front men, as well as Johan Elmander, should improve that.

Highlight: Pragmatism. Mauricio Potchettino is a meticulous character, sometimes bordering on Machiavellian, and his three signings represent the Argentine wanting a particular sort of player at St Mary’s. Pablo Osvaldo, Victor Wanyama and Dejan Lovren are all fiercely competitive, the sort of players who would pull ponytails and slip fingers in nostrils during corner kicks. Southampton are a fluid side that are pleasant to watch, but they now have a spine that hardens them.

Lowlight: Value. There were a lot of players on the market this summer, yet Southampton showed little interest once their three deals were secured. The rigorous training regime of Potchettino will bring long-term reward but could see legs become weary as the season progresses; their squad is impressive but also slightly thin.

Glaring omission: Carlos Tevez. Given he is Argentinean, tenacious, misunderstood and refuses to speak in anything but his native tongue, he’s truly a player in the manager’s design.

Overall mark: 7/10. The three players signed are all of proven quality and have competed in the Champions League – Southampton, remember, were a League One side less than three years ago. But for all the kind words of what Potchettino did when he took over from Nigel Adkins, the club still only managed to finish 14th. Having signed just three players, and lost Jason Puncheon – an uninspiring but effective winger – it remains to be seen whether quality prevails over quantity.

Highlight: The madness of Marko Arnautovic. Stoke had become a little drab in the final year of Tony Pulis’ reign, and the appointment of Mark Hughes was not expected to stir us all from slumber. How wrong we were. Arnautovic has been likened to Mario Balotelli, but the Austrian is far more eccentric. He strengthens Stoke’s front line – much needed after just 34 goals last season – and will also make Stoke interesting again.

Lowlight: Uncharacteristic frugality. After spending nearly £60m in the previous three seasons, Hughes was given just over £6m to spend on a squad that needs a drastic redesign. Though the Welshman likes to play direct football, he is visibly trying to introduce some short passing into their play; to be given £6m and a squad so used to Pulis’ methods hampers him immediately.

Glaring omission: Rory Delap. Okay, so Hughes is trying to change things at Stoke, and Delap is now unfit and allows the game to pass him by in midfield. But he does have a long throw if needed. That’s one attribute more than Charlie Adam possesses.

Overall mark: 6/10. Hughes’ signings are intriguing, particularly as one of his first – Marc Muniesa – is a defender who was raised on Catalan football and stands at under 6-foot, even on his tip-toes. But after years of relative lavishness, Hughes has to make do with a halfway house.

Highlight: An Italian revolution, of sorts - fitting given who sits in the dugout. Sunderland’s history is littered with signings that haven’t quite correlated with their standing at the time, but this summer has upended them all. After a 17th place finish under the tutelage of the inexperienced Paolo Di Canio, to sign Emanuele Giaccherini, Andrea Dossena and Modibo Diakite from sides within the top seven of Serie A represents a wonderful, if somewhat baffling, coup.

Lowlight: Simon Mignolet. A glimpse of last season’s league table highlights the importance of the Belgian, who moved to Liverpool this summer. Sunderland conceded just 54 goals and yet still finished just three points from safety; Di Canio has put his faith in Keiren Westwood for now, and also signed Vito Mannone from Arsenal, but replacing Mignolet may take much more money, and effort, than that.

Glaring omission: There seems to be little rhyme or reason to Di Canio’s scouting, a wonderful collage of players old and new, known and completely, utterly unknown. Open up the list of top-division football clubs on Wikipedia, close your eyes and throw a dart, being careful not to smash the screen. Zijad Adrovic from FK Celik Niksic of Macedonia.

Overall mark: 6/10. The Italian trio, particularly Giaccherini, will provide quality and experience. The signings of Jozy Altidore and Fabio Borini also brings hunger up front, as well as competition for Steven Fletcher. But there is a worry as to whether Mignolet has been replaced sufficiently, as well as whether 15 signings are far too many for a club that struggled for consistency last year.

Highlight: The Spanish market continues to yield results for Michael Laudrup. After the success of Michu and Pablo Hernandez last season, the Dane has the Premier League’s attention once more with the signings of Jordi Amat, Jose Canas, Alejandro Pozuelo and Alvaro Vazquez. Canas, in particular, is thought to be a player of some quality in central midfield.

Lowlight: Substance over style. Jonjo Shelvey and Wilfried Bony could prove to maintain the mantra of if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Neither player appears to be suited to Swansea’s style of play, but both represent names that bring Europa League experience and signal Swansea’s ascension in European football. After Laudrup’s early-summer threats of quitting were not followed through, the original promise petered out.

Glaring omission: Fabio Borini. With his dagger-in-the-mouth goal celebration (I know there hasn’t been much chance to see it), he and Michu could form a partnership that could form a new dance craze across the country. Or maybe not.

Overall mark: 7/10. Swansea’s big two signings have a lot to prove, although both have played Europa League football and will add to their continental campaign if nothing else. It is the Spanish signings that could define the Welsh side’s season, with Vazquez – joint top-scorer in the U20 World Cup 2011 – the enigma of the group.

Highlights: A constant traffic of fantastical footballers, floating in on hoverboards, arriving at White Hart Lane. This is the future of Tottenham Hotspur, who spent more than £100m on seven players this summer. It is not necessarily who they signed that impresses – though Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado, in particular, are excellent acquisitions. Most impressive is how they responded to the imminent departure of Gareth Bale with a collective shrug of the shoulders and a blank chequebook clasped in their hands.

Lowlights: Gareth Bale. It is a deal that, essentially, funded seven new signings at Tottenham. But that does not detract from Spurs losing a player who scored 21 league goals last season, and so much more besides. Bale became a phenomenon in north London, and though the response was both brash and bold, Bale could prove to be irreplaceable.

Glaring omission: There is none. Spurs signed every player in the universe, ever.

Overall mark: 9/10. When Manchester United sold Cristiano Ronaldo, they replaced him with Mame Diouf, Gabriel Obertan, Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia. Let history dictate that Bale’s departure was preceded by an incredible deluge of talent, all of whom have been watched by Europe’s top clubs. There are questions that persist of how long it will take for these players to combine effectively, but Spurs had little choice. And they sold Clint Dempsey to America for £6m, a deal which is even more incredulous than Bale’s.

Highlight: Intelligent dealings with little money. Until deadline day, West Brom had conducted business with free transfers and loan deals. Though Nicolas Anelka’s future was doubtful for a while, his experience will be vital, as will Diego Lugano’s, the Uruguayan defender who breathes fire in the faces of those who dare come close to him. Morgan Amalfitano, Matej Vydra and Scott Sinclair are all good loan deals under a manager with a reputation of eking out potential.

Lowlight: Deadline day. As bids for Victor Anichebe and Stephane Sessegnon increased, Dan Ashworth, the club’s former technical director, broke out in a sweat in his living room. This is not how West Brom usually conduct business, missing the frenetic shouting and endless shouting and somebody please stop the shouting of deadline day. Not this time. The £6m deal for Anichebe, who would have effectively become Everton’s fourth-choice striker, was particularly puzzling; it then became galling, even heartbreaking, when Everton replaced him with former love Romelu Lukaku.

Glaring omission: Joey Barton. The club signed both a defender and a striker with magnificent pedigree having won countless medals in their careers. Barton hasn’t done that, but somebody needs replace social media master Peter Odemwingie.

Overall mark: 6/10. The failure to re-sign Lukaku on deadline day could prove pivotal to a side that were hoping to progress from last season’s top half finish. Replacing his goals by bringing him back was a novel idea which didn’t quite happen; whether Anichebe and Sessegnon can fill the void remains to be seen. Anelka and Lugano are worth the season ticket money alone, however.

Highlight: Picking up Liverpool’s leftovers. Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll may be the punchline to unfunny football Twitter accounts everywhere, but both can be revitalised by playing together at Upton Park. Carroll did well on loan under Sam Allardyce, which made his signing academic. His head meeting the crosses of Downing could be worth far more than the £21.5m paid for them. I’m sure we’ve heard that before…

Lowlight: Despite the permanent signing of Carroll, the England man is currently injured. Allardyce responded to this by asking – nay, begging – for another striker. After a summer of courting Italian Fabio Quagliarella, realisation set in that it was unlikely to happen. They have now brought back Carlton Cole just two months after he left the club.

Overall mark: 6/10. The signing of Liverpool duo Carroll and Downing might work, but it won’t be something to have them blowing bubbles too vigorously at Upton Park. Razvan Rat and Adrian will make good squad players, but it was very much a summer of missed opportunity as other mid-table sides scoured Europe for the best bargains.